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(NOMOML v '0. J. FAIROHILD.

Grappling T001 for'Oil Wells.

Patented Feb. 15, 1881.

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ATTORNEYS.

N. PEIERS. PHOTO LITMOGRARMER. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OREN J. FAIRGHILD, OF BUTTSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

GRAPPLlNG-TOOL FOR OIL-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,845, dated February 15, 1881.

Application filed November 6, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OREN J. FAIRCHILD, of Buttsville, in the county of McKean and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Grappling-Tool for Oil-Wells, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective tool for recovering drilling-tools by unscrewing them from oil and other drilled wells.

The invention consists of two solid ratchets rigidly secured, at some distance apart, with their teeth toward each other, on the long shank of the grappling-tool, and of two corresponding movable ratchets encircling the said tool-shank and held by springs with their teeth nearly in contact with those of the fixed ratchets; and it consists, further, of a cylindrical hammer encircling the top of the toolshank and the upper ratchets thereon, whereby the loose ratchets are alternately driven against the fixed ratchets to make the grappling-tool rotate downward in one direction.

The drawing represents a vertical elevation of the device partly in section.

In the drawing, A represents a tool for making the hitch, which tool A may he of any suitable design, according to the shape of tool to be hitched upon; and .B is the shank, united thereto by the couplings a a and screws 1), or other convenient device.

.At some distance apart on the shank B'are keyed or otherwise rigidly secured the ratchets G 0, whose teeth face each other, but are inclined in opposite directions, as shown.

Encircling the shank B, and in close proximity to each ratchet G, is a corresponding ratchet, D D, whose teeth face those of the ratchets G G. Said ratchets D D are provided with oblique slots 0 c, and are held in place with theirinclined tooth-surfaces in contact with those of the ratchets O G by springs E E, which are held in the said oblique slots 0 c, as shown, so as to press upon the shank B.

F represents a cylindrical hammer, enveloping the upper part of the shank B and the upper ratchets, 0 D, said hammer F consisting of the cylinder F, having its bottom closed by a centrally-perforated block, f, and its top drawn out into a screw-threaded tip, y, whereby it is attached to the ordinary drillingstem or cable, by which it is operated.

In operating this device, it is lowered into the well until the lower end of the tool A is engaged upon the drilling-tool that is to be recovered. The hammer F is then drawn quickly up, so that the upper surface of its block f is brought in cogtact with the loose ratchet D, with the effect of forcing it against the ratchet G, and making its teeth slide on the corresponding diagonal surfaces of the teeth of the said ratchet C, so that by friction and impact the ratchet O is made to rotate and impartits motion, through the shank B, to the tool A. Then the hammer F is permitted to fall upon the ratchet D, with the effect of rotating the ratchet O, and consequently the toolA, in the same direction, and the han mer F is thus operated until it has produced the desired effect by driving down and rotating the tool A, causing said tool A to securely grapple with and unscrew the drilling-tool that is to be removed from the well; and when said drilling-tool is thus grappled and unscrewed by the application of-repegjed torsional b19515 o f the hammer it, (the said tool A,) together with the drilling-tool, is raised by means of an ordinary drilling stem or cable attached to the hammer F, and by the engagement of the block f against the lower face of the ratchet D.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An improved grappling-tool constructed substantially as shown and described, consisting of shank B, fixed ratchets O G, spring-secured ratchets D D, and hammer F, arranged and operated as set forth.

2. .ln a grappling-tool, the combination, with the shank B, of the fixed ratchets O 0, obliquely-slotted loose ratchets D D, springs E E, and cylindrical hammer F, substantially as herein shown and described.

3. The combination, with the shank B, fixed ratchets (J O, spring-ratchets D D, and hammer F, of the hitching-tool A, substantially as herein shown and described.

()REN JAMES FAIROHILD.

Witnesses:

F. L. ALDRICH, H, W. DAVIS. 

